Smartphones
Get Smarter!
Three new
phones are set to be gamechangers in today’s competitive market
Let’s be brutally honest.
The smartphone business is said to be the most exciting space in the entire
tech world. A driving engine for the rest of the categories, an absolute force
to reckon with, and one of the only products where customer demand is still at
an all-time high. But when you strip away the hype and reveal some reality,
it’s all very different. When was the last time a brand new feature in a phone
truly blew your mind? Away from the full page advertisements, away from the
huge noise created by brands, what’s the ‘blow your socks off’ innovation that
made you sit up and get really excited? Not much right? Well, the last few days
have changed that. Big time! HTC Ocean U11 No, HTC doesn’t use the name Ocean for
this phone. It was just a placeholder. But I wish they had kept it because it
really does dunk the competition deep into the ocean. Three reasons. First,
Edge Sense! The sides of the phone are squeezable. When you press the bottom
half of the phone, it starts off the camera. Press lightly again, it clicks a
picture. Press harder, it swaps the camera from front to back. No hunting for a
button, no touchscreen to manipulate. You can customise Edge Sense whichever
way you like, and it responds to your every squeeze. Second, the optics! It’s
been rated as the best camera phone, way higher than the Google Pixel and the
iPhone 7. Mainly due to the pixel size and the aperture. But there’s something
else that makes it unique. It’s IP67 certified, making it water resistant. Even
the Edge Sense works perfectly under water. So, say hello to underwater
selfies. It could become the next big thing. Third is the looks. Using unusual
materials and colours, this phone looks like nothing else. Add the Snapdragon
835 processor and the 6GB RAM and you’ve got a stunning phone masking a beast
within. A squeezable phone! Why didn’t anyone else think of that. All they need
to do is price it at around 53K and this will bring HTC back with a mega bang!
Honor 8 Lite Conventional wisdom says that it’s easy to make a phone really
stand out if you price it really high. You’ve got the budgets to put in
everything to make the phone top of the line. But when you’re playing in the
15K to 16K mid-section, multiple compromises need to be made. Honor just blew
that old-school wisdom to bits with the 8 Lite. Stunning design, 2.5D curved
glass front, full HD screen, 4GB RAM, an exceptional camera (back and front),
plus a wide angle front camera for selfies – this one has all the horsepower.
But remember, just great specs and hardware doesn’t make a phone a game
changer. It has to have that one thing no one else does. It’s in the looks
department that this phone is a breakout. Try this. Google all phones around
the 15K mark and check what they look like. Then go hold a Honor 8 Lite in your
hand. Its curved glass (back and front), and materials used make it a phone
that can take on any flagship at three times the price. I can predict that due
to the 8 Lite, the 15K market will now finally have the one thing its been
missing. Good looks!
Centric
G1
Continuing in the same
vein of busting a price point wide open by introducing features, specs and
looks is the Centric G1. Yes, you may not have heard of this brand. I hadn’t
either. Which is why it was a very pleasant shock to see it and review it. Once
again, at around 8K this phone is a total powerhouse – 5.5-inch HD display,
8.95-mm thin, Quad core processor, 3GB of RAM, a 2900 mAh battery. But the main
stand out feature for this 8K phone is its sandstone black finish and the
camera. Once again, rivalling phones three to four times its price, the G1
makes sure that having a small budget doesn’t mean you have to buy an ugly
phone. It looks unique with a textured curved shape, and there is nothing like
that even at 20K. Surprisingly, the camera performed exceptionally well too.
The speed of the auto focus was remarkable and the colours even in low light
were surprisingly good. Cameraphones under 10K almost always suck in terms of
photography results, but this one is a game changer. Perhaps they made a
mistake and put in a sensor and sense system that was for a much more expensive
phone.
These three may just be
the tip of the iceberg as the next few weeks could bring in further innovation
into what had become a very dull market. The One Plus 5 looks like its going to
be a showcase for the company’s innovation department, Huawei P10 could make
the competition go back to the drawing board scratching their head and the
rumoured Nokia 9 phone may just make every flagship phone quiver in terror.
Welcome back innovative smartphones. You were sorely missed!
SIMPLY
AMAZING
1. At just 8K, the
Centric G1 is a steal with its textured curved shape and an awesome camera.
2. Besides great specs,
what makes the Honor 8 Lite a winner is its stunning looks in the 15 -16K
market.
3. The HTC U11 is a
squeezable phone, an innovation that makes it stand out among the competition.
·
Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology,
NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3
HTBR28MAY17
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